


Her Hair Is So Big Because It's Full Of Secrets

by TeamKalinda



Series: A Year of Very Kalicia Holidays [3]
Category: Good Wife (TV)
Genre: F/F, Holidays, St. Patrick's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-14
Updated: 2012-03-14
Packaged: 2017-11-01 23:16:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/362363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamKalinda/pseuds/TeamKalinda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The hair thing, that’s just one of Alicia’s theories, and she has many. But she’s more or less content to play by Kalinda’s rules – as long as Kalinda keeps playing. </p>
<p>Subsequently, Kalinda finds herself unwillingly subjected to an impromptu breakfast with Alicia's kids. She tries her best to behave…but she <em>is</em> Kalinda, after all.</p>
<p>(If the title reference is lost on you...I'm sorry.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Hair Is So Big Because It's Full Of Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> This is the third in a series of 10 fics inspired by a holiday challenge. Each fic will give a holiday themed snap-shot of the evolving relationship between Alicia and Kalinda through the time span of one year.

It was getting late and Alicia had surpassed tired hours ago. She’d spent the day in a series of self perpetuating meetings with a new client Diane had just signed, leaving everything else she’d been expected to accomplish to be finished on her own time. She’d had to cancel a promised dinner with her kids for the second time that week and it was beginning to look like she might not even be home in time to tell them goodnight. 

She knew she could have probably taken the case files home with her, but that was such a hassle and ultimately beside the point. She might have made it to dinner if it hadn’t been for the last minute promotion she had received to first chair on a case she’d never even seen before – a case that was going to court the next morning. She didn’t have the seniority required to be officially annoyed, but she was determined to keep this type of frustration separate from her family. It wasn’t as if they didn’t provide enough unique frustrations of their own. 

Alicia sighed and sat back in her chair, pulling her day planner out of her bag to see what other events awaited her the next day. As she flipped open the leather cover a card of dark colored bobby-pins fell onto her desk. They could have been her’s, but she was sure that they weren’t. Then, as the realization of their significance dawned on her, an automatic smile spread across her face and she felt warm all over, the stress from the previous moment instantly lifting. She looked up quickly to make sure no one had seen her smiling at her desk like an idiot, but the floor was almost completely disserted, most everyone having left hours earlier. She laughed to herself as she tucked the hair accessories back into her bag where she’d be able to find them when she needed them – she knew she would. 

_“I’m not going to complain about you wanting to make out with me every time you get a few spare minutes,”_ Kalinda had told her earlier in the week, _“but if you keep messing up my hair, you’re going to have to start fixing it.”_

Apparently she’d been serious. 

For Alicia, Kalinda’s hair had been, among the many many other potentialities, a surprising issue. There had been several awkward encounters where, despite the fact that she had no problem letting her kiss her and had been known to initiate other acts of intimacy herself, Kalinda had been hesitant to let Alicia even touch her hair. It just seemed to be one of those things that could be described only as one of Kalinda’s ‘little quirks’ and would make absolutely no sense to a person that didn’t know her. Most of her quirks made little sense even to those that really cared about her, but that was Kalinda and caring about her meant meeting her where she was and making the best of it – even if that wasn’t always easy. 

It had been an agonizing metaphor. Alicia had never expected Kalinda to completely open up to her. She did her best to accept her limitations with as much understanding as possible. She knew only too well that pressing Kalinda on something that made her uncomfortable was the quickest way to shut her down completely. It had never, in any way, been Alicia’s intention to make her feel uneasy, regardless of her own curiosities. But the reality of the situation had been that the fact that this woman she cared so much about and for whom she was doing everything she could think of to make comfortable, had literally felt as if she couldn’t let her hair down with her, triggered serious personal feelings of inadequacy. 

Since they had moved past that initial reaction and Kalinda had become more at ease, Alicia found herself almost unable to keep her hands out of her hair. Practically every time she kissed her she found her fingers tangled in the tightly wound curls. She didn’t want to over think this behavior, admittedly because she had some concerns about what the analysis would reveal, but on the surface she figured it had something to do with not wanting to let go of progress made and a desire to be as close to Kalinda as she’d allow…and there was nothing wrong with that. 

Alicia sighed again. Her relationship with Kalinda was just as complicated as the rest of her life – it had its perks though. She found herself still smiling as she attempted to return her attention to the depositions she had been reviewing. Her girlfriend had just sent her a very clear message that she expected to be kissing her soon, and, when your girlfriend was Kalinda Sharma, that carried the significance of the sweetest love note. 

She still had a lot of work to do, but Alicia suddenly realized she was no longer upset about it. She’d be ready for court in the morning, and, if things went according to plan, she just might have a little input from her favorite investigator. 

 

**** 

 

Kalinda was flipping through the morning Tribune, silently lamenting the way Santorum was polling in Illinois and how Eli would attempt to ruin everyone’s day over it when Zach walked into the kitchen. To say he seemed surprised to see her there would have been an understatement. 

“Hey,” he managed once he seemed to become acutely aware that he was staring awkwardly. 

“Morning,” Kalinda offered him a small smile, but quickly returned her gaze to the newspaper. All of the jokes that came to mind about her apparent power over nearly all of the Florricks were too off-color, even for her. 

She was just as surprised as he was to find herself in Alicia’s kitchen that morning. Well, maybe not just as surprised. 

On Diane’s request she had dropped by the office early to pick up some paperwork Alicia needed for court that morning. Lately Alicia had become what was beginning to appear habitually forgetful – needing Kalinda to drop things off at her apartment sometimes several times a week. As amused as she was by this recent turn of events, the name partners weren’t nearly as appreciative.

A few weeks previous Will had taken it upon himself to deliver one of Alicia’s ‘forgotten’ items. The next day he had mentioned that it had been like she wasn’t even grateful for his efforts. He almost sounded as if his feelings had been hurt and Kalinda had done her best to be sympathetic. She’d assured him that he shouldn’t take it personally, that Alicia was just busy and distracted. She knew she shouldn’t have been amused, but she’d had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smirking when she thought about just what Alicia had been busy _with_. 

Then there was Diane, the more observant partner by far. Kalinda was sure it was only because she’d made such a quick exit, citing morning rush hour traffic, that she’d been able to escape an extremely awkward conversation at the office that morning. Keeping something from Diane Lockhart was almost as difficult as keeping it from Kalinda herself. She’d been around long enough to see just about everything once and she knew what was going on in her firm. As such, it wasn’t all that surprising that she’d noticed a change in her employees’ relationship or even that she had an opinion on it that she wanted to share. But that didn’t mean Kalinda wanted to discuss it with her. 

It had seemed like, just before she’d broached the topic, Diane had thought better of it. She’d probably take it up with Alicia, and that _was_ better – for Kalinda anyway. Alicia was far more gifted at knowing the right thing to say when confronted by authority figures…at least when any kind of good-natured ongoing relationship was desired. She’d be fine, especially once Kalinda gave her a heads up about the impending situation. 

“Grace, breakfast!” Alicia said, entering the kitchen and heading straight for the coffeepot. “You need to leave in 10 minutes to be at school on time.”

Kalinda peeked at Alicia over the edge of the paper. She always seemed to be in a rush in the mornings, but underneath the barely controlled chaos there was a delicate beauty to her every movement. 

Grace didn’t even acknowledge Kalinda’s presence as she sat down at the kitchen island beside her brother. Oddly enough, this action, or lack of action as it were, brought her a sense of relief from an anxiety that seemed so natural she had barely realized she was experiencing it. Although she would never admit it out loud, Alicia’s daughter unnerved her a little. Her behavior was erratic, unpredictable – normal for a teenager, but even so it was rare for Kalinda to struggle to get a read on someone. Of course, it usually wasn’t so important to her personally. 

Kalinda was well aware that Alicia loved her kids more than anything. If there was ever a competition for Alicia’s affection, she knew she’d be overcome by that unbearable emptiness again before the dust even settled. And, if there was going to be an issue, it would be with Grace. Zach’s lack of subtlety wasn’t his only transparency. He had his mother’s wit and, for all of his awkwardness, was relatable enough. That left the young girl with the gold cross around her neck and the shamrock barrette in her hair as her biggest antagonist. It was shameful. 

For her part, Alicia seemed to be attempting to introduce Kalinda’s new presence in her life to her kids the way one might introduce a decorative plant into their home’s décor. If life went on as usual around it long enough it might begin to seem like it had always been there – it might even appear to belong. Kalinda remained unconvinced of the plausibility of this plan, but played along for the most part, choosing, as much as possible, to hide behind various props such as the morning paper to limit opportunities for communication, thus potential awkward situations. 

“Blueberry or cranberry?” Alicia asked, offering her daughter a basket of muffins. Then she turned to Kalinda. 

“Blueberry or cranberry?” 

“I’m fine,” Kalinda said, barely looking up from the article she was reading detailing the weekend’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities. 

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Kalinda.” Alicia insisted. “You need to eat something.” 

Kalinda sighed and rolled her eyes, setting aside the newspaper. 

"Thanks, mom," she said sarcastically, taking a blueberry muffin. 

She could tell from the expression on Alicia’s face that she was enjoying teasing her, but arguing would be more trouble than it was worth. Her boots were loud against the hardwood floor as she took her muffin to the counter and sat down, aptly, in a row with Alicia’s other children. 

"Finish up, we gotta go," Zach said heading into the family room to gather his things.

"Right behind you," Grace replied, jumping to her feet and following her brother out of the kitchen.

Alicia raised her eyebrows at Kalinda questioningly as she gathered the kids’ dishes. Kalinda merely tilted her head to the side and smiled knowingly at her, continuing to pick at her unwanted breakfast. 

"Everything alright?" Alicia asked softly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kalinda responded, doing her best to appear endearing. She knew she'd been successful when Alicia rolled her eyes and shook her head. Then Grace’s voice filtered in from the living room. 

"Did you know the tradition of dying the river green for St. Patrick's Day started because the dye used to check the riverbed for cracks turns the water green? I saw a documentary." 

"I did know that," came Zach's reply. "I'm pretty sure that documentary is a requirement for every freshman in a Chicago high school. ‘Our Glorious City: The More You Know’ or something to that effect."

Alicia laughed at her son’s sarcastic commentary, but Kalinda was still more focused on Grace, trying to figure her out. 

"That's her big take away about St. Patrick's Day?" Kalinda asked, keeping her voice low. “They dye the alcohol green, too.” 

"She's 14, Kalinda." Alicia was amused, though. Kalinda being Kalinda had a rather wide rage of commentary she could get away with while still falling under the category of mostly appropriate.

"When I was 14 - "

"I don't want to know," Alicia interrupted, laughing. "I'm sure everything you did when you were 14 has been criminalized by now."

"You're assuming it was legal when I did it." Kalinda was suddenly feeling devious; she wondered briefly why there wasn’t more time between the start of classes at the over-priced private school Alicia sent her kids to and the first case on the Cook county docket. 

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt."

"You'll want to be careful with that."

"Finish your muffin, Kalinda."

"Wastefulness is a sin." Grace offered in the way that only she could, coming back into the kitchen to kiss her mother goodbye.

"Is it?" Kalinda asked automatically.

Suddenly Alicia seemed to be holding her breath, further legitimizing Kalinda’s feelings about her relationship with the recently baptized teenager. 

"I didn't know," Kalinda said as honestly as possible even if her lack of knowledge was outweighed only by her confusion regarding why she was receiving an unsolicited Bible lesson. She didn’t need to worry about being judged by Jesus, she had Grace Florrick to do it for her. 

"It's not one of the big 10, so I didn't realize..."

Grace seemed to consider Kalinda's comment for a moment and then just smiled at her.

"We need to be going, too," Alicia said, securing the lid on her travel mug as Grace and Zach headed out the door. 

“Abernathy is alright, but you know how he gets when counsel is late to his pre-hearing cause of the day announcement.” 

Kalinda chuckled as Alicia turned to face her directly. 

“You can finish your breakfast in the car, yes?” Kalinda nodded. 

"You _would be_ the only one to cause a problem, wouldn't you?" Kalinda grinned.

"It makes life interesting."

"It certainly does."

“Seeing as we were speaking of St. Patrick’s Day,” Kalinda said, changing the subject as nonchalantly as possible. “Are we going out tomorrow night?” 

“Only if you manage to behave yourself for the rest of the day.” Kalinda sighed dramatically. 

“What are the odds?” 

Alicia smiled in a way that betrayed just how much she seemed to enjoy Kalinda’s mischievousness, even if she complained about it. 

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, anyway,” Alicia said matter-of-factly as she grabbed her keys from the table and ushered Kalinda towards the door. 

“I am?” 

“We have lunch plans today.” 

“We do?” Kalinda couldn’t keep the intrigue out of her voice and Alicia’s smile widened. 

“Oh come on, Kalinda,” she said, feigning exasperation. “I don’t carry around hair pins for people I don’t intend to play with.”


End file.
